Current options for viewing a movie at home include traveling to a movie rental store to obtain a videotape or DVD copy of the movie. The copy must be returned a few days later. Another option is to select from the limited number of choices that are offered from sources that provide what is known as pay-per-view movies. Cable or broadcast movie channels provide a limited number of selections of movies for display at predetermined times.
It is usually not economically feasible for the operator of, for example, a cable television (CATV) system (or other content provider) to provide for delivery-on-demand a large number of movie selections to subscribers because such a system requires an extensive amount of bandwidth between the content provider and each of the subscriber units (televisions or other display devices) of the network.
The present invention addresses the problem of prohibitive bandwidth requirements for a content provider in delivering video-on-demand or other large media files. In short, there is provided a system that shifts the bandwidth requirements away from the content provider and to the network of subscriber units.
In one embodiment, a media file representing, for example, a movie is segmented. These segments are distributed among the network of subscriber units. Any one of the subscribers may submit a request to view a movie. In response to such a request, the other subscriber units direct to the requesting subscriber all of the segments, which are then assembled into the complete media file (movie) for display, or stored for later display, on the requesting subscriber's unit.
In one embodiment, the subscriber's request is sent to the network's main server. The main server then instructs the network subscribers to forward copies of the segments stored in those units to the unit of the requesting subscriber. The segments are each encrypted or otherwise encoded to prevent unauthorized viewing of individual segments. When the requesting subscriber has received all segments of the movie, that unit sends a message to the main server, requesting the encryption key to unlock the movie. The main server provides this, and billing information is then recorded in the main server.
The segmented and distributed storage of the media file provides a high level of security and a deterrence to piracy. No single subscriber unit has more than a segment of a media file, which segment, by itself, has little value.
In another embodiment, the segments of the media file are copied and these copied segments are also distributed to the network subscribers in a manner that provides redundancy to the system so that in the event that a given subscriber unit is unable to provide the requesting subscriber with the segment stored on that given unit, there will be available on other units copies of that segment to complete the media file.
It is contemplated that the request for the media file and subsequent responses for directing the segments to the requester can be handled without the intervention of the network's main server by using peer-to-peer architecture or the like.
Other advantages and features of the present invention will become clear upon study of the following portion of this specification and drawings.